I used to do accompaniment for an opera singer, and the translated lyrics of the Opera she sang were the socially acceptable pop music of the time. |–cutesy piano intro–|–romantic yearning–|–romantic angst–|–end piano ditty–|

Brilliant! But in Country music you’ve left out the part about a girl in ‘painted on jeans’, and a wife’s trailer-park wrecking rampage after finding her man sippin’ Barcardi with said painted-on-jeans girl. But other than that, and Taylor Swift teenage angst, you’re pretty much dead on! 🙂

A lot of jazz follows a standard “bookend” form (called Rounded Binary in classical music.) You already know it from your English class when they taught you how to write an essay.
1. Intro: Tell ’em what you’re going to say.
2. Body: Say it, with examples and proof. Three paragraphs is a good number.
3. Conclusion: Tell ’em what you told ’em.

What that translates to in a lot of classic jazz is:
1. theme (melody, liberally paraphrased in some cases)
2. improvisation on the form and harmony of the theme (count carefully, because they ALWAYS follow the exact form!) Sometimes there is one soloist, sometimes many. Three is a good number.
3. theme again to finish, even MORE liberally paraphrased than the first time. Sometimes there’s an extension of some sort at the end of the last theme.

this anatomy of songs has started something big! and lots of your followers have got the bug and offered suggestions they also made me laugh! so clever. i dont know about music structure and the dont need to – the fun side is all in your strips that does it for me – and i understand! thank you !

Thanks for bringing attention to indie music! Follow me on social media which you can find in my profile links to find new indie music, promoters & radio stations. Here’s my SoundCloud playlist for starters: https://soundcloud.com/luvindiemusic/likes

Wrong Hands, I hope you do a “Part 2”. Imagine how many more unsolicited, yet welcome free music lessons we will all get in the comments section. Being a musician myself, I was still able to learn some music theory and gain insight on various genres. I enjoyed the lighthearted humor in your cartoon and some good laughs from your fans and critics. Good stuff! Thanks everybody! Thanks for taking on such serious subject matter and breaking it all down for us Wrong Hands! 🙂 Bravo! Encore!

Please do a part two! This was great. It would be awesome if you could include alternative(Maroon 5, All American Rejects, Green Day), reggea, jazz, metal, and indie pop/singer songwriter (Lana Del Rey, Adele, John Mayer, Amy Winehouse.) Love and light!

Twenty-something problems now I am supposed to have
Who says? well it is Facebook and it’s muddlin’ with my head
That’s least of all my problems so there’s plenty more to go
Twenty-something problems sure let’s put them in a row

My car is junk, my house’s shed, I’m a lonely desp’rate guy
My wife she has the measles and in secret hopes I’ll die
I’m restless, bored, an anorex’, I’m usin’ XTC
So twenty-something problems well there’s more for u to see

My knees are weak my liver ‘s gone, it’s livin’ in a barn
My stomach ache is painful but its causing no alarm
No what I’m worried of, my taste buds’ situation there you see
They all migrated long ago to a bourbon distill’ry

So twenty somethin’problems well I did not even start
I mentioned not my kidneys and my hope-of-ridden heart
My daughter is successful so I’m written off her books
Well there’s my life and really, not as bad as it might look!

For twenty something problems are an honour to have had
To have succeeded none the less in not yet being dead
A mattress layin’on the ground my doggy by side
And twenty something problems laying softly at my side

Reblogged this on Catholic Glasses and commented:
Brought a smile to the end of a busy day. I like the first two the best. Momma said, Dirt Roads and Jesus. Blues genre = complaining. <~ I do far too much of that, so laughing at ourselves can effect a more conscientious way of living. Taking stock, now that I see I'm way too serious sometimes. Thanks a bunch!

[…] “Anatomy of Songs” by “Wrong Hands” cartoonist John Atkinson breaks down the basically musical elements of the indie rock, country, blues, pop and classic rock genres down to their most basic elements. […]

[…] “Anatomy of Songs” is a comic by “Wrong Hands” cartoonist John Atkinson that breaks down the musical genres of the indie rock, country, blues, pop, and classic rock into their most basic elements. […]

This is so clever and true. Thank you. And, I invite you again to go on over the http://toullasstory.wordpress.com/ for the latest installation of the fiction-in-progress Toulla Laid Down Her Gun. The process of writing this magical fiction is very organic since as the author, I’m also being carried along by the story as it unfolds each week. Please join in and see if it doesn’t grab you from the first few lines.

[…] anatomy of songs | Wrong Hands https://wronghands1.wordpress.com/“Anatomy of Songs” is a comic by “Wrong Hands” cartoonist John Atkinson that breaks down the musical genres of the indie rock, country, blues, pop, and classic rock into their most basic elements. […] on July 31, 2014 at … […]

[…] is a handy guide to help you determine what went wrong and why you did not become popular. You see, according to John Atkinson, all songs have an anatomy and you can check whether your song had one […]